


get by on my own

by putsch



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 06:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13047984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/putsch/pseuds/putsch
Summary: hanai doesn't want to believe magic is a thing, magic isn't supposed to be a thing, and it's especially not supposed to be a thing in baseball.(written for SASO2017, some implied tajihan in here if you squint)





	get by on my own

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: hanai comes across an echanted baseball cap that gives him that extra bit of skill to reach tajima
> 
> original here: https://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/21522.html?thread=10527250#cmt10527250

Hanai always considered himself a man of practicality, with both feet firmly planted in reality. Adults always tried to freak him out with stories of mythical creatures of weird happenings around their town, but he never let it get to him. After all, most of those stories were old wives tales, surely. No one just finds a fish made of gold in the river cutting behind the old high school, or gets cursed by a witch in the twisting alleyways on Chouji street. That's ridiculous. Everything has a logical explanation, in the end.  
  
It's what he tells himself at least, as he stares down a simple dark green baseball cap as he sits on his bed.  
  
He wore it today during practice, and for seven practices after that. And for some reason he felt _different_ every time. It was impossible to put a better name to even though he wanted to, because it wasn't necessarily good and it certainly wasn't bad, it just was, like it just was that Hanai managed to hit _three_ home runs off Mihashi, caught any ball that went his way, and didn't feel nearly as winded at the end of practice even though Tajima had kept him for an extra hour to run over practice drills.  
  
He couldn't explain it, but it was there, and Tajima seemed to notice it too. Piercing brown eyes were baring into him since the first time he wore it and Hanai couldn't deny there had to be something. No matter how many times he told himself it must be practice paying off, his extra work outs and studying, he knew this sudden jump isn't from push-ups or image training.  
  
The only thing different was the cap.  
  
"It's your lucky cap!" Izumi had joked, elbowing him in the ribs. "Maybe it's gonna make you the best at baseball."  
  
Everyone laughed, but Tajima was still staring at him, never looking away.  
  
  
  
Hanai flipped the cap over in his hands again, taking in the generic fabric, the six rung clasp, the simple lip to keep away the sun. How apparently, somehow, it was making him better how it made Tajima stare at him in a way that made every hair on his body stand on end.  
  
He heads downstairs, slips on his shoes, grabs one thing from the kitchen, and heads out on his bike to the Nishiura baseball diamond.  
  
  
  
It's empty at night, a blissful silence as a hard contrast to the loud, constant chatter of the team when they're all there together with Momokan shouting orders at them. Hanai keeps biking a little bit past it, to where the rusted over metal trashcans are near the stands that are still waiting for an audience to hold.  
  
One day, they'll be good enough for people to come, to see them, and maybe if Hanai keeps up exactly what he's doing, it'll happen sooner rather than later. People will come for how good he is, for how good _they_ are after working themselves to the bone for it.  
  
He takes a deep breath as he stares down the trashcan, which is empty, so Hanai keeps up his nerve as he pulls out the pack of matches he stole from the kitchen.  
  
The match doesn't light the first try, or the second, and he wonders if he shouldn't be doing this because really, who would do this? But he grits his teeth and gets it the third time, and there's no going back. Hanai lights a second one to be safe, dropping them into the cap, waiting until it catches before he lets it fall into the trashcan. He watches it burn, the fabric smelling awful and the plastic dripping away.  
  
He doesn't need any help to overcome anyone, not even Tajima.   
  
He'll get there himself.


End file.
